Category: State Issues

This week, the 99th annual Wyoming State Fair hosted a swine show, a performance pork contest and even a “pig ‘n mud” wrestling championship. But the biggest porker of all? The fair itself. The fair has become a pricey pork barrel project that uses Wyoming state tax dollars to subsidize more than three-quarters of the cost of operating the event each year. In fact, state lawmakers snatched more than $1.4 million from taxpayers to bankroll this year’s fair, which ends its eight-day run on Saturday. If the attendance figures hold steady this year, every time someone pays the fair’s $3 admission fee, taxpayers will spend $32.29 to subsidize the rest of the cost of the attendees’ visit to the fair.

(Todd Kruse is a citizen and taxpayer from Minnesota) The State of Minnesota is officially “closed” today because our legislature and governor could not reach a budget agreement before the June 30th, Midnight deadline. This is not a time to despair fellow citizens – no this is the ideal time to expect true leadership from our public officials. Behind the headlines depicting the impasse between legislative leaders and the governor there is an ongoing legal process whereby our courts are determining what are deemed “core government functions.” The Minnesota Zoo is a perfect example of an opportunity to fundamentally re-structure government. Is the provision of a zoo a core function of government? As a classical liberal who celebrates limited government I would say “no” and would expect PETA to join me in this sentiment.

California has become known for two things: setting trends (such as ham and pineapple pizza) and bad government. The latest example of bad government comes from our friends at Reason.com who reported that “Although excessive public-employee salaries are getting close attention in California, many ostensibly private officials – including a tourism bureau boss who makes almost $500,000 a year – are paid mostly or entirely from public money. In some cases, these compensation packages are higher than the pay of public employees who have been the focus of public outrage.” This “tourism bureau,” LA Inc., which is a non-profit organization that “functions as Los Angeles’ convention and visitors bureau,” has no seemingly justifiable existence and is funded by taxes.

Tennessee is in the middle of a taxation battle as the state legislature figures out what to do with an agreement that former Governor Phil Bredesen agreed to and current Governor Bill Haslam intends to honor which would exempt Amazon (the mega Internet seller of books and other goods) from paying state taxes, if it builds distribution centers in Tennessee. Any legislation that invalidates this deal would be harmful to the Volunteer State and its residents.

On February 19, 2009 President Obama signed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, or more commonly known as the Stimulus Bill. There was more than $800 billion in spending that was supposed to address unemployment and the economic dip that America had experienced. What it did was create a myriad of new programs that have little to do with job creation and more to do with expanding government’s reach into society.